Arrived: The destination of the four-hour IBA walk was the Diocesan Museum above the rooftops of Freising for city architect Barbara Schelle, Lord Mayor Tobias Eschenbacher, District Administrator Helmut Petz, Alik Rätzke from the district's building authority and Jonas Bellingrodt from the Office for Urban Planning and Environment of the city of Freising (from left) as well as the numerous other participants. © Lehmann
The Munich International Building Exhibition is already unleashing a high degree of creativity and innovation in Freising. This has now been demonstrated at the IBA Walk.
Freising – It was a day full of visions, packed with pictures and wishes of what the district and the city of Freising could look like in a few years, it was a look through the keyhole into the future of Freising – and it was a summary of countless innovative ideas. In addition, it was a meeting at which the work of the past months was presented, but also urban planning grievances were openly shown. And there was a good reason for all this: Since 2022, the state capital, together with numerous other players, has been preparing for the International Building Exhibition (IBA) under the motto "Spaces of Mobility" in the Munich Metropolitan Region.
The IBA's goal is to prepare the topic of mobility through excellent and innovative projects and to present it as an example in the presentation year 2032 as well as sustainably for the future. The ten-year period until the final presentation of these forward-looking projects has already begun.
The municipalities that are throwing their hats into the ring in the hope of being brought into the IBA boat are already busy preparing. This is also the case with the district and the city of Freising. In order to present the project ideas of the individual potential participating municipalities even before the official founding of IBA GmbH at the end of the year, the IBA Walk event format was set up. And it took place on Wednesday in Freising – with the district and the city of Freising as joint hosts.
Mobility turnaround: Bringing the S-Bahn to the U-Bahn
For the Freising region, two possible IBA projects are on the agenda, which were the focus of attention on Wednesday: The district, which participates as a shareholder in the International Building Exhibition in the Munich region, is concerned with the mobility turnaround. After being welcomed at the Weihenstephan University of Applied Sciences, the 50 participants in the IBA Walk first set off on a tour of Garching. The main topic is the possible extension of the U6 subway line into the district of Freising. As District Administrator Helmut Petz explained, if people are to be persuaded to switch to public transport, an attractive counter-offer to the car must be created – between the U6 Garching and the S1 with connections to the science location Freising and to Munich Airport. MVV Managing Director Bernd Rosenbusch repeated his idea of "bringing the S-Bahn to the U-Bahn" instead of the other way around. Helmut Petz underlined the strong political will to achieve this, and he added: "The signs for this bridging are no longer bad."
Zukunftsquartier Bahnhofsareal
Old paths are being abandoned as part of the IBA's planning. Innovation and excellence are a top priority. Here's what it might look like. © Illustration: Britta Krondorf
The city of Freising, however, wants to give a new face to a formative area of Freising: the station area, which is to be transformed into a future quarter by 2032 with the tailwind of the IBA. The actual walk started in the afternoon on the Lerchenfelder side of the Korbiniansbrücke. After introductory remarks, Mayor Tobias Eschenbacher and City Architect Barbara Schelle handed over the headsets to Jonas Bellingrodt from the Office of Urban Planning and Sonja Rube from the USP-Projekte planning office, which had already been entrusted with the inner-city concept.
The two led the participants first to the Isar, then from Lerchenfeld via the Korbiniansbrücke, the Isardamm and the Park & Ride area to the northern part of the station. In this way, they traced the approximate scope of the future quarter: The quarter to be reorganized covers an area of about 25 hectares between Freising's city center and the Isar River. Bellingrodt and Rube presented in detail what development goals have been defined in countless hours since October 2022 in workshops and in special meetings of the inner city advisory board. And the guests were able to get an idea of what Bellingrodt described as "urban planning grievances" – the massive waste of space due to the park and ride area, for example. What also became clear: Despite the unique location with its proximity to the city center and the Isar floodplains, there is a rather bleak overall impression around the station. Not new for those familiar with the area, but the out-of-town participants were amazed at how close they actually were to the city centre when they stood at the Isar. And the view from the train station does not suggest that the Isar flows beyond the Park and Ride area, just a stone's throw away.
Application brochure with all visions
All of this needs to be remedied – ideally within the framework of the IBA: "We want to and will create something unique here," said Rube. The stakeholders have in mind an innovative urban quarter with a high mix of uses, near-home office, culture, games and sports, a strong integration of the Isar landscape and short distances (keyword: ten-minute city).
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Project manager Jonas Bellingrodt summarized the results of all the preparatory work in a brochure that was handed out to the participants hot off the press and which, as soon as the IBA company has been founded, will serve as an application brochure.
Between Freising's landmark, the cathedral on the left, and the pure idyll of the Isar meadows on the right, the participants set out on the IBA Walk to explore Freising's area around the train station. © Beschorner
The future quarter is to accommodate all everyday destinations, so that traffic will be avoided and everything will be accessible on foot and by bike. It is intended to serve as a driver of innovation for the region. And many things are being rethought. "At some point, a multi-storey car park will be obsolete, so it should be planned in such a way that it can perhaps be transformed into a dance hall later."
Exciting visions. The IBA Walk has whetted the appetite for more. Or as Mayor Tobias Eschenbacher summed it up in conclusion: "The IBA is a great opportunity for us."
Good to know: IBA, an internationally effective showcase for architecture and building culture
International Building Exhibitions (IBA) have existed for more than 100 years. The district and the city of Freising declare in a joint statement: "The IBA Munich Metropolitan Region will offer an internationally effective showcase for architecture, civil engineering and building culture from Bavaria. It will not only be the first IBA to consciously focus on the challenging topic of mobility, but also the first IBA in the Free State of Bavaria."
The special thing about this is that the IBA Munich Metropolitan Region was initiated purely by municipalities and was primarily supported by municipalities. In this way, it reflects the joint creative will and innovative strength of the cities, districts and municipalities in the metropolitan region. The IBA will work with partners from business, civil society, academia, and research and development to sponsor and finance projects. "Projects are closely interlinked with programmes of the Free State and the Federal Government and are given priority at all levels for faster and more effective implementation," it says.
At the end of the term in 2032, tangible progress and successes are to be presented in a new regional mobility culture. The experts expect that an IBA will trigger significant investments for the entire region, including in the private sector. "We will be a place that deals with pressing questions of the future in an exemplary manner and displays the results of our work globally and offers them for imitation."